


A Study of Secrets

by Remsyk



Series: Penny Dreadfuls [1]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Creepy, Daily Drabble, Gen, Halloween Inspired, Mentions to OCs, My Penny Dreadfuls, Quatre cameo, Spooky, Tumblr Prompt, Unnatural November, Victorian Horror Symbol Challenge, there will be more, to myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-25 23:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12543232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remsyk/pseuds/Remsyk
Summary: Duo volunteered to help Wufei put his Grandfather's final affairs in order. Which unfortunately meant spending his Saturday in a dusty study, sorting through the notes of a life ended.





	A Study of Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Finding a cryptic, hand-written note in the study.

“Holy shit, there’s no end to this!” Duo leaned back on his hands, stretching his legs. He ignored the dusty piles of books and papers, watching Wufei as he sorted through a stack of letters.

“We have to be thorough,” Wufei replied without looking up from his task. “They’ll be on my ass if I miss reporting so much as a single receipt for a hotdog from Sheetz.”

Duo snorted and rolled his eyes. “The will was pretty clear.”

Wufei sighed, dropping his hands in his lap as he squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them wide. He repeated the motions a few more times as he spoke. “Trust me, the shareholders are going to throw their best lawyers at this. If there’s even the slightest chance they can nullify the will, they’ll snatch it.”

Duo nodded, his expression sympathetic. “I hear ya, but I gotta ask, why not hire someone, or someones,” he amended, glancing around the spacious study, “to help you out? Or do it for you?”

“Not what you had in mind on a Saturday?” Wufei smirked, causing Duo to pout.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Wufei resumed his sorting, adding the last letter to a stack on his left. “I wouldn’t trust them to do the job correctly. I’m sure they could follow directions, but would they know where to file the hotdog receipt?”

Duo quirked an eyebrow as he frowned in thought. “Either ‘Eating Out’ or ‘Gas Station’.”

Wufei’s mouth twitched as he grabbed another stack of letters. “The correct answer is ‘Trash’, but I’ll give you an A for effort.”

Duo groaned dramatically as he collapsed on his back, Wufei’s laughter echoing through the room. “I’m leaving. This is cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Shut up, we’re almost done,” Wufei swatted at Duo’s feet, leaning over his crossed legs to reach. “Go clean out the desk. Bring me any paperwork you find.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Duo grumbled, rolling to his feet. He dodged around piles of books and half emptied boxes, making his way to the back of the room.

The desk was a massive piece, crafted from solid oak and carved with traditional, writhing Chinese dragons. It was beautiful, designed to immediately draw one’s attention, and subsequently, to the to one sitting behind it.

Duo walked around the desk, admiring its polished surface, unblemished despite the neglect, then turned his attention on the multiple drawers.

He decided to start on one side and work his way down. He pulled the top right drawer first, pulling out memo pads and various office supplies. Disappointed but not surprised, he emptied the drawer and moved on to the next. Each drawer was more mundane than the last, leading Duo to wonder if the late clan leader had a secret obsession with memo pads.

The larger bottom drawers had a few folders with paperwork, and Duo piled them neatly on the corner of the desk to grab when he was finished. He double checked both sets of drawers, then set to work on the shallow, middle drawer.

The wide drawer opened smoothly, revealing a well organized assortment of the usual office supplies, each item resting in its own fabric lined well. The pens and paperclips had better homes than some people’s jewelry. Duo smirked at the thought, quickly collecting the supplies and dumping them into a small box. He skimmed the drawer one more time, ready to call it a day, when the end of a pen caught his attention, jammed into the back corner of the drawer.

Duo reached inside, the angle slightly awkward given the shallow clearance and depth of the pen. He finally managed to grip the item and tugged, but the pen remained in place. Huffing in annoyance, he adjusted his grip and pulled again, wondering how it could have gotten stuck when the draw moved easily. He tugged one last time, ready to either snap the pen in half or just leave it, when it finally shifted, accompanied with a loud click.

He jolted, scraping his arm against the edge in his surprise. He hadn’t meant to actually break it. Duo rubbed at his sore arm, inspecting the bright red skin for any damage. Finding none, he peered back inside the drawer, noticing that the pen was now at a different angle, but was still firmly entrenched in the drawer.

“Well, fuck you too,” he mumbled, bumping the drawer closed with his hip, focusing his attention on his throbbing arm.

An odd thump accompanied the closing, the drawer bouncing off an obstruction, stopping just short of closing. Duo sighed in annoyance, already beyond done with the desk, and pulled it open again.

He pushed it shut, watching to see where it stopped, half expecting it jam due to that blasted pen in the back. Instead, it closed almost entirely, but was blocked by a portion of the decorative edge that hung lower than the rest, centered with the drawer.

Duo blinked; he was sure everything had aligned perfectly when he started. Otherwise, the drawer wouldn’t have opened at all.

Curiosity piqued, he jostled the trim, thinking that it had come loose when he had jerked his arm against it. He felt a stab of guilt; Wufei had trusted him to help with his family’s affairs. Instead he was breaking priceless antique furniture.

To his surprise, the piece lowered smoothly, opening on a hinge. His mind suddenly kicked into high gear, the pen and following click now making sense.

He had found a secret compartment.

Duo glanced up at Wufei, silently conveying his excitement, his lower lip caught between his teeth. Did he know about it? Did anyone know this, or was Duo now privy to this secret, his own personal connection with the clan leader.

When Wufei failed to respond to his telepathic screams of enthusiasm, Duo turned back to the compartment, his curiosity overruling everything else. He crouched down so he was eye level with the small compartment, squinting to see the contents. A small book lay inside, placed in the middle, the edge perfectly parallel with the opening.

Duo reached inside and slowly pulled out the book, rising as he turned it over in his hands, inspecting the cover. The outside was bound in leather, the hinges showing no signs of drying or cracking. The spine was blank, as was either cover. He opened the book, his eyes widening as he scanned the carefully written, flowing script.

It was a journal.

He flipped through the pages at random, the text a mix of English and Chinese characters, each entry carefully dated. He turned to the back, looking for the final entry. The page was written in English, dated for the day prior to his passing.

Duo felt a chill pass over him as that thought sank in. This was essentially his final words, his last private thoughts before he died. He had a sudden urge to snap the book shut, shove it back inside the compartment and close it away, but curiosity killed the cat, as his friends would say.

But satisfaction brought it back, he thought, shoving the feeling aside. The entry wasn’t very long, covering half the page.

 _If you’re reading this, then it is too late._  
_I vowed to take the secret to my grave, but I didn’t expect- I never expected-_  
_Even at the end of this life, I find I am not ready. Despite what I have done, or perhaps because of it, I need more time._  
_If you have found this, then it is already done. I did what I can, but in the end, it was never enough._  
_I pray you will one day forgive me, but should you never find it in your heart to do so, I only wish you live long enough to understand._  
_Get out._

The chill returned in force, and Duo wasted no time in following his instincts, shoving the book in haphazardly in his haste to close the trapdoor, sealing the journal and its secrets inside. He pushed the center drawer shut, a wave of relief catching him by surprise when it closed without incident, leaving no indication of the cryptic thoughts of a dying man.

He leaned against the desk, inhaling slowly as he counted in his head, his attention focused on calming his racing heartbeat and the shaking in his hands.

“Duo?”

He jumped violently, shoving away from the desk with a shout. Wufei watched him from across the room, standing by the doorway. “Yeah, what?” Duo stuttered, clearing his throat from where his heart had tried to take up residence.

“I said, do you want to grab lunch?” Wufei said, narrowing his eyes as he studied him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine, just fine. I just finished cleaning out the desk.” Duo strolled around the desk, each step carefully measured against sprinting across the room.

Wufei studied him again, then shrugged and opened the door. “I’m thinking pizza,” he said as he disappeared down the hall.

Duo took a moment to collect himself, his heart finally returning to a regular pulse. He was just being paranoid. He needed to get it together. His back prickled as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

Duo turned slowly, hyper aware of his solitude in the large room. His eyes locked on the desk, its presence suddenly overwhelming, growing like a living thing as its menacing aura filled the room. The walls seemed to close as it grew larger, the image moving closer, forcing Duo to step back, his eyes wide as he fought for breath.

His back met the door, and he scrambled to find the knob, his hands searching frantically across its surface. Finally, he collided with the handle, and he twisted viciously, wrenching back as the desk loomed over him, shoving him against the unforgiving barrier, close enough to touch-

The door opened, depositing Duo on the floor with a bone rattling thud. He rolled forward, just enough to grab the door, slamming it shut against the suffocating presence.

The silence pressed against his ears, clashing with the roar of his blood as his heart raced faster than ever, his chest heaving as he fought for air. He didn’t have the strength to stand, sure his legs would give out. He was drenched in a cold sweat, wiping at his face with a shaky hand.

“Duo! If you don’t get down here, I’m ordering mushrooms on both pizzas!”

Duo inhaled deeply, taking a few extra seconds to calm down. “I’m com-” his voice cracked, and he coughed to clear the lingering fear away. “I’m coming!”

He pushed himself across the floor to the wall, leaning against its solid presence. He rose slowly, bracing against the wall in case his legs decided to betray him.

There was no way he could explain this to Wufei and not be referred to his shrink buddy, Quatre. He never wanted to set foot in that study again, but the thought of Wufei venturing inside alone, sitting for hours with that thing in there…

Duo sighed, shoving as much of his fear into a box and sitting heavily on its lid, ignoring the tendrils that spilled over the sides. He’ll deal with it later, after some food and fresh air. Maybe he was over exaggerating, his overactive imagination collaborating with the cryptic words in an old journal.

After all, it was just the ramblings of an old man, right?

**Author's Note:**

> I set out to write a drabble, and instead got a short story. Yet another example of my lack of control. I'm actually really pleased with this one. 
> 
> Written, reread, and posted in the same night, a first for me. Please excuse any mistakes.


End file.
